an interview with Raffael aka The Sound

Posted on 30. Aug, 2009 by GabiGoldberg in Band Interviews, Music

“The Sound is what defines music for me. Everyone has a sound that means something to them, so when you think “The Sound”, think of what you are hearing when you are listening to your favourite piece of music. It’s what pushes a lump into your throat and tears into your eyes, or what makes you jump around on your bed making you feel like you can conquer the world, or maybe a sound that makes you feel like you are not alone. It’s also a reminder to myself of what I am looking for and what drives me.” That’s why I am known as the Sound.

Raffael Rueckert is a DJ/Producer/remix artist from Cape Town. He’s remixed many of South Africa’s top alternative artists like AKING, Kid of Doom, Desmond and the Tutus to name a few.

His many projects include being a part of an electro synth-rock band called Tigerstrike, as well as being a part of a live act representing the individual and collaborative work of CoDeC and The Sound known as LAN.

He started out making music as “I’ve always been amazed at how different songs could create different feelings. When I started playing I realised that I could now make my own sounds that made me feel things; since then I’ve been hooked on creating and playing music, it’s like something I have to do, something inside me. I tried stopping once, which was terrible, I was so miserable.” He says reflectively “when I was a kid when my parents bought me a keyboard for my birthday. I’d sit for hours and figure out the melodies of any song I could remember, and even making up my own ones. I remember jamming away for hours trying out different combinations of beats, melodies and chords, I loved it so much!”

He knew the guys from LAN and Tigerstrike “through the skate/rock scene a few years back. Gerald (CoDeC) and I used to play together in a band called New World Inside which later became Fokofpolisiekar. Brett (from Tigerstrike) and I met in Joburg while on tour with one of my first punk bands. I only knew Jonathan and Chris vaguely until we started being in a band.”

He doesn’t have a favourite artist to remix as “every remix is different and they are all cool in their own ways. Some come together very quickly, like in one session even, others could end up taking a month, but it’s always new and interesting and fun.”

“It gets a bit crazy being in 2 bands as well as remixing songs” I am always really busy rehearsing, recording, remixing, DJing, photo shoots or promoting. It is a good kind of crazy though, doing something you love!”

“There’s new stuff happening all the time… a new Tigerstrike track has just been recorded, which will hopefully be released as a single along with a music video, so that’s coming up next, as well as more shows for Tigerstrike in September and October. I’ve also been very focused on the technical setup of LAN and promoting CodecVSTheSound and have neglected The Sound a bit, so I’m focusing on that a bit more by getting my music out through twitter and my blog site.”

He would like to expand and hopefully be “a really great producer, someone who can make anything sound really great. I’d like to meet a lot of artists and assist them in reaching their goals, and also help them expand their sound…my dream is to own a warehouse and turn it into a studio / music lounge, perhaps even a live venue. I’d have equipment set up and work on recording and producing artists and bands during the day and partying at night.”
His favourite song that he made with the tow bands he is in, LAN and Tigerstrike, would have to be “Tigerstrike’s Disappear. It’s got that dark angst-driven feel to it, which I love, and the lyrics make sense to me.”

When performing, seeing people enjoying themselves, being part of something and being able to give those people something makes performing worthwhile. The anticipation building up to the show is also really exciting. It’s such a rush feeding off the energy of the crowd-having people sing your lyrics back to you…”

The funniest thing that happened at a shows “more in the rock bands I’ve played in (such as New World Inside) was when people would wipe out due to too much alcohol. I remember certain people having a little too much and then jumping around and falling over while playing. I still laugh out loud when I remember those incidents, it’s really funny. Once while I was DJing some dodgy drunk guy tried to stage dive and everyone just moved out of the way. Luckily he got away with some minor bruises, but the whole thing was really funny…”